


Altered Perspective

by DeandraAlleyan



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Gen, Pre-Battle of Scarif, Pre-Relationship, slight rebelcaptain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2020-01-23 00:16:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18538396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeandraAlleyan/pseuds/DeandraAlleyan
Summary: In his 26 years, Cassian has gone on many missions for the Alliance. But none of them changed him in the way this new one will. [Complete in 3 chapters]A more fleshed out version of what we saw onscreen from Cassian & Jyn originally meeting up to their return to Yavin after Eadu.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: The problem with time in Rogue One is that what is written, what is shown on maps and what we see in the movie doesn’t all sync. There are likely factors for which we don’t have details, so figuring things out in a ‘real time’ timeframe is difficult. What we see clearly suggests that all of the events we see in the movie are taking place very quickly, and some fans have indicated that the total elapsed time is about a week. I have worked out one possible version of the timing, though admittedly some of it really stretches to make it match things. The trickiest part was dealing with Jedha. What we see onscreen all takes place in daylight, but the novelization references them going to Saw’s hideout “late at night”. In order to make my proposed timing more reasonable, I am figuring Jedha to have a shorter day (as some planets/moons do, due to their rotations and orbits). That will make darkness and daylight more compressed over fewer hours and it will feel more realistic to what we saw. In general, though, I’m taking the movie as ‘canon’ over other sources.

Chapter 1

Jyn Erso. Cassian stared at the file for a few seconds before opening it. He knew the name, of course. Well, moreso her father, but the Alliance had long known that Galen Erso had a daughter. But it was unknown where exactly either of them were. The wife, Jyn’s mother, Lyra Erso, had been found dead at their homestead on Lah’mu some fifteen years ago. It didn’t require an Intelligence Officer to figure out who had fired the blaster that killed her.

They had long suspected that Galen Erso was back working for the Empire. They knew he had for a time, but then disappeared. The dead wife and destroyed home suggested the Empire had ‘requested’ he rejoin their ranks. But what had become of the daughter? He thumbed through the file and began to read. Reports indicated that a girl child had been spotted in the company of Saw Gerrera’s Partisans. The Alliance had believed Gerrera and Erso were acquainted, and if that were true then it also seemed reasonable he might have the child. The Empire wouldn’t have had much interest in keeping the family together, unless it served their purpose. How she got from the homestead to Saw Gerrera they likely would never know for certain.

He continued deeper into the file, coming to more recent years. Rumor had it that Gerrera had set the girl adrift for some reason, left her to fend for herself. She would only have been about sixteen years old when that was believed to have happened. He could almost feel a twinge of sympathy for her situation, until he remembered what her father did with his scientific knowledge.

The last update in the file indicated the girl had been picked up for various crimes, and was now serving her sentence in an Imperial labor camp on Wobani. Which meant she’d soon be dead. No one lasted long in those labor camps. Underfed, abused, the prisoners gave up, killed each other or attempted escapes that gave the stormtroopers an opportunity for target practice.

Assuming she was still alive, that wouldn’t be her fate. Draven had sent K-2 with Extraction Team Bravo to collect her. Cassian wasn’t sure that was a good idea. They knew very little about her or her political leanings. They hoped to use her to get to Saw Gerrera, and then to Galen Erso. That was a disaster just waiting to happen. And he was the one who would be most at risk. If Draven had him reading this file, it was a sure bet that was his next assignment – infiltrating Gerrera’s camp to find out what the defecting Imperial pilot knew. Yes, maybe the girl could get them in the door, but what then? In exchange for her help they were going to offer her freedom, the chance to disappear with a new identity. But what was to say she wouldn’t simply hand him over to Gerrera and walk away. They didn’t know the details of why she and Gerrera’s rebels parted company. If they believed them still cordial enough to manage this introduction, didn’t that also allow for her turning against her Alliance captors? Certainly she wasn’t going to feel more allegiance to him and the Alliance than she felt for an old friend who had raised her. It was very likely he’d never even get eyes on this defecting pilot before Gerrera had him killed. 

This was a bad idea, as K-2 had pointed out before departing with Team Bravo. He wasn’t sure how the droid even knew what their intent was in rescuing Jyn Erso, but he obviously realized Cassian would be tasked with the mission to Jedha once she was recovered from the Empire’s clutches.

He rubbed wearily at his face. He was getting too old for this. And how was that even possible when he was just twenty-six? Still, his twenty years with the rebellion amounted to about forty years of hard labor. He shut the file and tossed it to the back of the desk. He needed some fresh air. Bravo Team would return soon and they’d want him in on the interrogation.

xxx

Cassian hovered in the shadows, close enough to watch and listen, but mostly out of view. Even so, he thought Erso had noticed him there. Draven was as aggressive and no-nonsense as usual; Mon Mothma was striving for diplomacy, trying to win Erso’s cooperation.

The girl was a puzzle; certainly not what he had expected from reading her file. She had an impressive list of crimes attributed to her for someone so young, but if Saw Gerrera had raised her then he supposed that wasn’t too surprising. She also wasn’t particularly intimidated by them. They had ‘rescued’ her from the labor camp, but the cuffs on her wrists made it clear she was still a prisoner. She had to have expected that considering how she attacked Team Bravo when they freed her.

The question was, where did she stand. Her father was known to be an Imperial scientist. She had been raised by Gerrera, a known rebel…of sorts. Where did her allegiance lie? With either of them or neither? There were those he had met who tried to keep themselves politically neutral, as though they thought that might somehow protect them from harm from either side. They were fools, but this girl didn’t strike him as being a fool. Belligerent, smart, wary, but not a fool.

Mon Mothma gestured to him and said, “This is Captain Cassian Andor, Rebel Intelligence.” That was his signal to step in. Time to press the girl on specifics and see how she reacted.

After all these years, Cassian had engaged in so many interrogations that he almost didn’t even need to think about how to proceed. So long as he prepared in advance to know what questions to include, he knew how to dig up the nuggets they needed.

“When was the last time you were in contact with your father?”

Simple enough question though there was mild surprise on her face. She was uncertain why they were asking about him.

“Fifteen years ago.” Short, and to the point. She was being cautious, feeling them out as much as they were her.

“Any idea where he's been all that time?”

Erso’s expression became almost wistful. “I like to think he’s dead. Makes things easier.”

“Easier than what? That he’s been a tool of the Imperial war machine?” He couldn’t prevent the disdain in his tone.

“I've never had the luxury of political opinions,” she replied coolly.

“Really? When was your last contact with Saw Gerrera?”

That did catch her off guard, but she reined in her reaction. “It’s been a long time.”

“But he'll remember you, though. Wouldn't he? He might agree to meet you, if you came as a friend.” Despite their being questions, he spoke the words as if they were fact. She wouldn’t be here if the Alliance didn’t fully believe she could do this.

When she hesitated in giving a response, Draven stepped in. Leave it to him to throw some weight around. “We're up against the clock here, girl, so if there's nothing to talk about, we'll just put you back where we found you.”

She retorted, “I was a child. Saw Gerrera saved my life. He raised me. But I have no idea where he is. I haven’t seen him in years.”

“We know how to find him,” Cassian assured her. “That’s not our problem. What we need is someone who gets us through the door without being killed.”

There was reluctance in her bearing, but also confusion about why she was involved. “You’re all rebels, aren’t you?”

Mon Mothma answered the question before Cassian could. “Yes, but Saw Gerrera is an extremist. He’s been fighting on his own since he broke with the Rebellion. His militancy has caused the Alliance a great many problems. We have no choice now but to try and mend that broken trust.”

Now the girl’s eyes turned speculative. “What does this have to do with my father?”

She was paying attention; Cassian could appreciate that. They weren’t going to slip anything past her. He glanced at the others to see what they wanted him to do. Draven considered briefly, then turned to Mon Mothma for the decision. She gave Cassian a tiny nod for him to proceed and tell the girl the full truth.

“There’s an Imperial defector in Jedha. A pilot. He’s being held by Saw Gerrera. He’s claiming the Emperor is creating a weapon with the power to destroy entire planets. The pilot says he was sent by your father.”

Her eyes widened at this news. Before she could speak, however, the others provided a few more details.

“We need to stop this weapon before it is finished,” Mothma told her.

“Captain Andor’s mission is to authenticate the pilot’s story. And then, if possible, find your father,” Draven added.

“It appears that he is critical to the development of this super weapon. Given the gravity of the situation and your history with Saw, we’re hoping that he will help us locate your father and return him to the Senate for testimony.” Certainly Mothma didn’t look very hopeful, not in Cassian’s eyes anyway.

Still, this information had gotten past the girl’s defenses. What was it he saw in her eyes? Hope? Did she really not know her father lived, where he was and what he was doing? Was that even remotely possible?

She came to a decision quickly. “And if I do it?”

They didn’t have much to offer that would interest her, but there was one thing. “We’ll make sure you go free,” Mothma told her.

xxx

The Alliance had given Jyn Erso a few things since she had only what she wore when they pulled her off the prisoner transport. Deemed inadequate, they had provided a jacket and scarf, and a pack to carry a few miscellaneous items for the trip. Somewhere between the interrogation room and his U-wing she had acquired a blaster holster. Since they weren’t giving her a blaster, he didn’t see the point to it, but he had chosen not to inquire where it had come from. Then he noticed a truncheon on her belt as well. Thief, indeed. He was sure that had not been given to her either. Still, he had supposed she ought to have some means of defense and had let that slip.

Cassian wasn’t surprised when Draven called him back. A great many of his missions started with ‘alternative’ orders to those he received in the general meeting. Draven played the good soldier in there, but afterwards, he did what he felt necessary. Not all of Draven’s orders would be approved by members of the council, by Mothma. Draven was hard core and didn’t mind making tough decisions; Mothma was always looking for a way to compromise. Often those differing viewpoints made Cassian’s work even more difficult, such as now.

But he had expected this. Bring Galen Erso back to testify before the Senate? What good would that do? When the Empire lost their lead scientist on this project they would either try to recover him, or kill him. And if the man supported the Empire, he wasn’t going to tell the Alliance anything useful. Maybe Erso did send the pilot to deliver a message, and maybe it did indicate some rebel leanings, but Cassian wasn’t one for taking things at face value. He well knew the subtle tricks that were used to gain information – he used them himself.

He tried not to look at Erso after Draven released him. The only way this would work well was to keep a very cool distance between them. He couldn’t give her any reason to suspect his true purpose on this mission.

“You met K-2?” he asked, going over to a panel and pretending it was necessary to check the inputs. He was sure K had everything squared away, but it provided an excuse to avoid speaking directly to her.

“Charming.” From her tone, he surmised K had been giving voice to his every thought, without restriction, as usual.

“He tends to say whatever comes into his circuits. It’s a by-product of the reprogram.”

Speak of the devil, K-2 piped up, “Why does she get a blaster and I don’t?”

“What?” That was not what he had expected to hear. She had a blaster, too?

“I know how to use it.”

From her bearing and the way she handled it, he didn’t doubt the truth of her statement, but it didn’t make him feel any better about this discovery. “That’s what I’m afraid of. Give it to me.”

“We’re going to Jedha. That’s a war zone.”

He shouldn’t have been surprised when she balked. “That’s not the point. Where did you get that?” It looked suspiciously like the spare one he carried in his pack, which would mean…

“I found it.”

K-2 volunteered, “I find that answer vague and unconvincing.” Cassian couldn’t argue with that assessment, and it confirmed his suspicion of where she had obtained it.

“Trust goes both ways.” Her gaze was challenging. If they wanted her to trust them and help them out, she was going to insist on the same in return.

Cassian looked at her, flicked his eyes to the blaster and back to her. This was a mistake, and he was sure K would make certain he knew it, but she did have a point. He’d just have to keep a very close eye on her, and preferably keep her in front of him at all times. Without saying anything further, he moved into the cockpit.

“You’re letting her keep it?” Yep, there was the expected outburst. “Would you like to know the probability of her using it against you?” Cassian just silently looked at him, unwilling to discuss it. “It’s high.”

“Let’s get going.” Cassian adjusted his instruments and put on his headset, trying to ignore his own and K’s misgivings.

K-2 wasn’t ready to give up. “It’s very high.”

xxx

Over the years, Cassian and K had developed such a smooth routine, that conversation was rarely needed. He wasn’t the talkative sort, so that suited him just fine. In this instance, there was an additional advantage to it. He knew Erso was watching them, and listening to anything she could manage to overhear. Once they were in hyperspace, she had gotten up and walked around, ostensibly to take a look at the ship, but it also gave her an excuse to reseat herself closer to the cockpit. Putting her in a spot where she could see and hear more. He wasn’t fooled. It was something he would have done in similar circumstances. She was going to be disappointed, though. There was no need to discuss the particulars of the mission with K, nor would he be likely to tell the droid anything that he might let slip in her presence. K did not always comprehend the merit of censoring one’s words.

Unfortunately, the trip to Jedha was going to take a couple of hours, and he had not slept in over twenty-four hours. If he wanted to sleep anywhere near comfortably, he would have to go into the back of the ship. At need, he had slept in the pilot’s seat, but he usually awoke stiff and not feeling very rested. Finally, he couldn’t think of a way to avoid being in her presence. “Take controls. I’m going to try to sleep for a while.”

“Understood.”

Her head was tipped back against the wall behind her, eyes closed, but she either heard him or sensed his presence – her eyes blinked open immediately. “You should try to sleep. You have a couple of hours before we are there, even at lightspeed. After that, another chance might not come very soon.”

She didn’t respond, just studied him with those cool green eyes, making him slightly uncomfortable. Cassian was very good at disguises, at not letting anyone see anything he did not want them to see about himself. He got the impression she was seeing more than he wished, and that was not a pleasant sensation.

“How does the Alliance know about my father?”

Not the first question he had expected her to ask. “We make it a point to know who our enemies are?”

Her jaw tightened at his answer, and he hoped it would end the conversation. Unfortunately, it didn’t.

“How did you know about me? I’ve given the Alliance no reason to consider me an enemy.”

He glanced at her, mulling over what he should tell her. “You are the daughter of an Imperial scientist. That is enough for us to keep our eyes on you.”

“Even considering my connection to Saw Gerrera, a rebel even if not necessarily your friend?”

As he had already determined, she was smart. Too smart. But at least he appreciated intelligent questions. Too often he dealt with fanatics who mostly spouted nonsense. “Between your father and Saw Gerrera, we couldn’t know where your allegiance was. It was safer to assume the worse.”

Oddly enough, that seemed to satisfy her, as though she would have made the same call if it were her. He had a sense that her life had been no more normal than his had. But he’d had the support of the Alliance, to watch over him and help him. What had she had? Raised by a rebel extremist, likely in the midst of a band of extremists, would not be the healthiest environment for a child or even a youth. Then on her own from about sixteen on. It was tough enough surviving on your own as a male; that difficulty would be nearly tripled if you were a female.

He pulled out some bedrolls, handing one to her and gesturing to an area of the floor she could use. He set up his own spot near the cockpit in case K-2 needed him for something. She was already down, before he finished, and he gazed at her momentarily. He couldn’t quite make out her expression, what she might be thinking. He supposed it wasn’t terribly surprising that she knew how to adjust to whatever was happening around her. That would be a vital skill while on her own, before her activities landed her in an Imperial prison. He turned away and laid down. He needed sleep more than he needed to try to figure her out.

xxx

When K-2 awakened him shortly before they came out of hyperspace near Jedha, Erso had wakened also. Or at least opened her eyes. He didn’t know if she had not slept, or had but slept lightly enough to hear K-2 summoning him. When he had risen and started gathering his bedding, she did the same and then took a seat across from a window.

After he handed over ship control to K-2 once they were entering orbit, he had gone into the back to gather whatever they needed to take with them. She was blinking slightly, looking a little confused, and staring at a necklace that she hastily tucked out of sight under her clothes. Idly he wondered what that was about.

As he made his way deeper into the ship toward her, she had turned to look out the window but glanced up at his approach.

“That’s Jedha. Or what’s left of it.” He wasn’t able to disquise the contempt in his voice, though he wasn’t entirely sure it was justified aiming it at her. He walked away rather than discuss it. “We find Saw, we find your father.”

Behind him, he heard her get up to have a better view of the moon they were approaching. It didn’t take long to enter the atmosphere and set down at the spot he had chosen, some distance from the city. He led Erso to a ridge with a good vantage of the city on the top of a mesa.

“What's with the Destroyer?” she asked, settling down beside him.

“It's because of your old friend, Saw Gerrera. He's been attacking the cargo shipments.”

“What are they bringing in?” He handed her the binoculars so she could take a closer look.

“It's ‘what are they taking out?’. Kyber crystals. All they can get. We wondered why they were stripping the temple. Now we know. It's the fuel for the weapon.” He shifted to his knees while she studied the city from this distance.

K-2 arrived just then, and didn’t mince words. “The weapon your father’s building?”

Like him, Erso was removing anything from her pack that she wanted to take with her. He was similarly rearranging what was in his pack and on his person, in preparation.

She looked up at the droid and suggested, “Maybe we should leave target practice behind.”

He had planned to leave K with the ship anyway, though not for that particular reason. K, however, was not happy about the comment.

“Are you talking about me?”

He could see this escalating into an argument and intervened. “She’s right. We need to blend in. Stay with the ship.”

Huffily, K replied, “I can blend in. I'm an Imperial droid. The city is under Imperial occupation.”

Before Cassian could say anything, Erso retorted, “Half the people here wanna reprogram you. The other half wanna put a hole in your head.”

“I'm surprised you're so concerned with my safety,” K responded acerbically.

Erso rose and strode toward him. “I'm not. I'm just worried they might miss you...and hit me.” She shoved her pack into his arms as she moved past him.

Cassian followed her, but gave the droid a consoling pat as he went by. He wasn’t sure whether Erso heard the droid’s muttered reply, “Doesn't sound so bad to me.” A thunk told him K had dropped her pack to show his annoyance.

It was a several hour walk to the city, but Cassian preferred not having the ship closer where it might draw Imperial attention. To his relief, Erso didn’t insist on much conversation for the trip. After spending so much time alone, he found chitchat to be completely irksome. He did have to give her credit that the few times she spoke she asked intelligent, pertinent questions. If he hadn’t known differently, he might almost have thought he was on a mission with a fellow rebel. He put that thought forcefully aside. No point in getting comfortable with her company.

She was in good shape and easily kept up with him, so they made good time. It was slower going in the city. The streets were crowded and the Imperial presence made a circuitous route necessary. When Erso and another person collided, Cassian had to intervene; the man was looking for trouble but he wasn’t going to accommodate him. They had more pressing business than some local trying to pick a fight.

While they walked, he explained the plan to her. “I had a contact. One of Saw's rebels. But he's just gone missing. His sister will be looking for him. The temple's been destroyed, but she'll be there waiting. We'll give her your name and hope that gets us a meeting with Saw.”

“Hope?” she asked with evident amusement. She came to a stop, forcing him to stop and look back.

“Yeah. Rebellions are built on hope.”

Her eyes narrowed at his words, as though surprised to hear such from him. She had no idea how many things they had to merely hope for in this rebellion. Too much was uncertain; without hope, they all would have given up a long time ago.

They continued on, but even more than usual the stormtroopers were harrassing citizens, demanding identification. Between that and announcements offering credits for the missing pilot, things just became a whole lot more complicated.

“Is this all because of your pilot?” she asked quietly.

He didn’t bother to answer, just pressed on. The sooner they were done, the sooner they could get out of here. Hopefully without having to fight. When they got near the temple, he instructed her, “Wait for me.” He made his way through the crowd leaving her there.

When he returned a couple of minutes later, he found her talking to one of the guardians. Catching her elbow to gain her attention, he told her, “Jyn, come on. Let’s go.”

The guardian called after them, something about kyber and she hesitated again. He didn’t have time for this distraction. Cassian reiterated, “Let’s go.” Once she started moving again, he added, “We’re not here to make friends.”

“Who are they?” she asked as he guided her through the crowd.

“The Guardians of the Whills. Protectors of the Kyber Temple. But there’s nothing left to protect, so now they’re just causing trouble for everybody.”

“You seem awfully tense all of a sudden.”

Tense didn’t even begin to describe it. He knew when a job was about to go bad, and this was one of them. “We have to hurry. This town is ready to blow.”

Between the stormtroopers and tanks moving through the city, broadcasting their propaganda, the air was rife with fear and anger. He glimpsed movement on rooftops and along alleyways; Jyn had seen it too, apparently. “Tell me you have a backup plan,” she murmured to him.

Just then a grenade went off and hysteria broke out. Rebels stepped from cover and got in a firefight with the stormtroopers, while civilians rushed for cover anywhere they could find it. That included the two of them. The last thing they wanted was to get caught in the middle of this. There wasn’t a great deal of cover but they both dove into alcoves along a breezeway, drawing their weapons. She glanced at him and noted wryly, “Looks like we found Saw’s rebels.”

Cassian was watching the fight play out, trying to determine the safest course to take when suddenly Jyn bolted from cover. “Jyn, no!”

It took him a moment to figure out what she was doing. When she blasted an approaching trooper and grabbed a child around its waist, he realized her reason. Some part of him had to admire and respect her taking the risk to aid the child. He shoved that part of him back into the deep dark hole he had dug for it many years ago. There was no room for sympathy in war. What she was doing was also risky and foolish. He’d been trying to keep them away from stormtrooper notice and she was practically waving a flag in front of them, begging them to shoot her. If she died, this entire venture was wasted. There would be no getting to Saw Gerrera without her, and thus no way to find out what that pilot knew.

Jyn started for cover with the little girl, being knocked to her knees by another explosion. The girl’s mother appeared and claimed the child, but Jyn was still in a vulnerable spot. When the tank started raising its guns to fire at the rebels on a terrace above the plaza, he shouted, “Get out of there!” Not that there was much she could do. She knew it wasn’t safe where she was, but it could be just as deadly moving. The tank blast brought down part of a building, and the tank commander was ordering them to take aim again. Before they could, Cassian got a bead and shot him. There wasn’t a great deal he could do to help her, but at least he could remove some of the dangers while she tried to exit the plaza intact.

Jyn seized the opportunity he had given her and bolted for the nearest protection she could find – the treads of the shuttle the tank had been escorting. It wasn’t optimal, but it was better than being in the open.

A rebel on the roof was preparing to throw another grenade. Jyn would be right in the line of fire if that happened. Without hesitation, he took his shot and the man fell into a group of people below, the explosion going off among them. Jyn had noticed, and turned to look at him. He gave her a nod that he had her back. The fighting had lulled momentarily, so she bolted from cover and Cassian followed. She shot drown a trooper moving to intercept and they headed out of the square, but another grenade blast knocked them to the ground before they were clear.

It took a moment to clear his head, and Jyn was stirring beside him. For some reason, her arm was flung across his back in a protective gesture, but he had no time to ponder it. They regained their feet and took off running again. He had moved to the lead, but when he rounded a corner he came face to face with a trooper. That one was quickly dispatched, but an instant later two more appeared and he doubled back the way he had come, wondering where Jyn had disappeared to. An instant later, he saw her in an alcove and as he went by yelled, “This way.”

“Cassian!” she called, but he kept going. Only there was nowhere to run. Either stormtroopers or rebels were advancing on all sides. They both ended up back in alcoves preparing to take a stand.

He was vaguely aware that she holstered her blaster, and opened the truncheon. As he stepped out to face their pursuers, he glimpsed her stepping toward the stormtroopers in the other direction. They worked so smoothly together without discussing it, an outsider might have thought they’d been doing this together for years. 

There were about five stormtroopers facing him, and he handily dispatched them. When he turned to face Jyn, he found she was in the midst of far more than he had dealt with – most of them already on the ground and her working on making the rest of them join their companions there. All he could do was stare. He supposed knowing she was raised by Saw Gerrera he should have assumed she would know how to fight, but this was incredible. A hasty count put her victim toll at nine, almost doubling his number. Only as she concluded by dispatching a KX unit, did he come to his senses, astonished to find he had lowered his weapon while watching her fight. Hastily he holstered the blaster, to cover his lapse, noting K-2 standing nearby.

“Did you know that wasn’t me?” the droid demanded accusingly of Jyn.

She gave a slight jerk of her head. “Of course.” Somehow, Cassian seriously doubted that was true. She had just been fortunate not to hit K, much as she might have liked to do so.

“I thought I told you to wait on the ship.” Cassian joined them.

Unfazed, K-2 replied, “You did, but I thought it was boring. And you were in trouble.”

During the conversation, they didn’t notice one of the felled stormtroopers behind Jyn wasn’t down yet. He raised up and tossed a grenade, but K-2 calmly reached out and plucked it from the air. “There are a lot of explosions for two people blending in.”

Jyn started backing away from K, gesturing meaningfully toward the grenade. “Um…”

Just as he was going to yell at the droid to act, K casually tossed the grenade over his shoulder. The four stormtroopers who had just arrived on the scene succumbed to the explosion. “You’re right,” K-2 said. “I should just wait on the ship.”

Where had he lost control of this mission? Neither Jyn Erso nor K-2 seemed inclined to listen to him and follow his instructions. It was more than a little irritating. It wasn’t as though he hadn’t been doing this his entire adult life. 

The three of them struck off back toward the square together, but suddenly found themselves facing a group of troopers inspecting a bombed site. A glance at the other two and they simultaneously turned and tried to walk nonchalantly, and silently, back the way they had come. It didn’t work – they were noticed.

“Stop right there.”

For the moment, there was no choice. He glanced at Jyn to make sure she wasn’t on the verge of doing something foolish as they all turned back. Unexpectedly, the stormtrooper giving orders mistook K-2 for an Imperial droid. That was helpful, but K wasn’t good at subterfuge.

“Where are you taking these prisoners?”

K-2 was slow to catch on. His response was almost more of a question than anything. “These are prisoners.”

Cassian groaned inwardly as the conversation continued. K’s cluelessness was only making matters worse, if that was possible.

It was risky, but he tried to assist with a cover story, only to have K slap him and tell him to keep quiet. He would have been upset by it if he hadn’t realized it might prove the idea that K was acting on behalf of the Empire. Even so, he wasn’t entirely surprised when the trooper directed two others to bind them and take them away, insisting K stay for a diagnostic check. It had been a good try on K’s part; he’d have to remember to tell him so, if he ever got the chance. But if they got separated, that could make this very difficult. He could only hope the droid was able to get free and could find a way to act to recover them from their captors.

As they were being pulled away, suddenly a new voice entered the conversation. It almost sounded familiar, though he couldn’t place it until he spotted the speaker. It was the temple guardian who had been talking to Jyn earlier.

“Let them pass in peace.”

Everyone’s attention was drawn to the man as he strolled with his cane into the midst of the stormtroopers. What a blind man could do other than get himself killed, Cassian didn’t know, but he would use the distraction and hope it provided an opportunity he could exploit to effect their escape.

It turned out, a blind man could do a great deal more than he had expected. The man dodged blaster shots from a dozen stormtroopers that surrounded him, and took them down with kicks and strikes from his staff until all were felled. Unfortunately, just as he was victorious, half a dozen more appeared. Then came the next surprise – the man was not alone. Another was kneeling by the ruins and shot down the troopers with his repeating laser cannon. It was a miracle he didn’t shoot his friend who stood between the gun and the targets.

“You almost shot me!” the blind man complained to his friend.

“You’re welcome,” the other man replied, handing him his weapon, and then putting another laser bolt into a stormtrooper that was still stirring. The blind man casually put a foot up on a downed trooper while he caught his breath.

K had taken cover near Cassian and Jyn, but now edged out into the open, announcing, “Clear of hostiles.” At the sound of his voice, however, the big man whirled, blaster at the ready.

“One hostile,” the droid amended, raising his hands.

Before Cassian could react, Jyn dove in front of K and said, “He’s with us!” Luckily, it made the man hesitate.

“They’re alright.” It wasn’t until the blind man vouched for them that the man uncertainly lowered his weapon.

Jyn raised her wrists for K-2 to remove her cuffs, while eyeing the two men who had come to their rescue. The blind one – Jyn had murmured that his name was Chirrut Imwe - turned and sat down on one of the troopers as if he did this every day.

While Cassian was having K remove his own handcuffs, the droid took the opportunity to apologize. “Cassian, I’m sorry about the slap.”

Distractedly he instructed, “Go back to the ship. Wait for my call.” The droid turned and trotted off.

“Is he a Jedi?” Cassian asked warily, slowly approaching the two men.

“There are no Jedi here anymore,” the big man replied. “Only dreamers like this fool.”

“The Force did protect me,” the blind man asserted.

“I protected you,” the other man retorted.

Cassian was trying to determine who these two were and why they had helped. Their job was protecting the temple, even in ruins, not assisting hapless folks who got captured by stormtroopers. Were they secretly rebels?

Apparently Jyn had that same thought, and asked, “Can you get us to Saw Gerrera?”

There was no chance for either man to answer, but it was a moot point as they were surrounded by rebels and bound. Jyn and Cassian were forced to their knees. Cassian was beginning to doubt his skills, considering the number of times he had been unintentionally captured in the past few minutes.

The man – Chirrut, he reminded himself – tried to reason with the rebels, which told Cassian the two were not acquainted. “Can’t you see we are no friends of the Empire?”

The rebel leader wasn’t impressed by this declaration. “Tell that to the one who killed our men.” Which meant he had seen Cassian shoot the grenade-thrower on the roof. That wasn’t good; not the way to make a favorable impression.

To his surprise, Jyn took the initiative. “Anyone who kills me or my friends will answer to Saw Gerrera.”

The man was skeptical. “And why is that?”

“Because I’m the daughter of Galen Erso.”

Cassian wasn’t sure he would have made that known yet, but if it kept them alive long enough to get to Saw, he’d take it. Whatever the rebel leader’s thoughts, he didn’t voice them. He merely directed his men to take them, and bags were placed over everyone’s heads, presumably to keep them from seeing where they were going.

They didn’t travel far initially, and Cassian determined they were still in the city somewhere. He decided they must be waiting for the furor from the battle to die down before openly moving to their hideout. The building they were in was cold and smelled musty, so he presumed it was little used. The prisoners were shoved down onto the floor against one wall to wait. The bulk of the person on his right suggested it was the big man, the one Chirrut had called Baze. Somehow he could tell the one on his left was Jyn.

While their captors mingled in front of them, all four prisoners kept silent. Only when it appeared the rebels had moved away somewhat did Cassian risk a low whisper to Jyn. “Do you recognize any of them?”

After a moment, she replied, “No. But as I said, I haven’t seen Saw in years. The turnover in personnel is high in his band.”

Certainly he believed that. He had to give her credit – she was perfectly calm. Many women would have been hysterical by now. More of her training by Saw, no doubt. At least he didn’t have to contend with that. Now he just had to hope Gerrera would welcome her, and not be eager to kill her companions. The two guardians might well come to regret their interference, though he could not be unappreciative of the help. The two of them were good to have beside you in a fight. He hoped this would end well and they would be freed unharmed. He did not like endangering anyone other than himself.

His stomach rumbled, but he paid it no mind. He doubted there would be anything to eat for some time. Their captors did not appear interested in their comfort.

Something nudged him from the left, and when he took it, he realized it was a ration bar. “Where did you get this?” he muttered.

“Found it.”

That again. He opened it as quietly as possible and offered her half. When he tasted it, he could guess where she’d ‘found it’. It happened to be exactly like the ones he carried on his ship. “Do you have another? For them?”

She shifted slightly, then he felt another nudge. Inobtrusively he passed it off to Baze, and received a grunt of thanks.

“That’s all there is,” Jyn told him. “It will have to do.”

He could almost wish he hadn’t handed off the second one, but that would be more than selfish after they had endangered themselves on his and Jyn’s behalf. And it wasn’t like he had never gone hungry before. The longest had been nine days, and the less he remembered of that mission, the better.

He wondered if Jyn had stolen the food for that very reason – she had known hunger, too, and wanted to be prepared. Jyn. When had he started thinking of her, and calling her, by her first name instead of just ‘Erso’? It was easier to distance yourself from someone whose first name you didn’t use. That was unfortunate that he had slipped in that regard. It would make later more difficult, assuming they managed to locate and get to her father. What he called her might have changed, but his orders hadn’t. He laid his head back against the wall, determined to put his walls back up. She was Erso, just Erso.

Still, ‘Erso’ was proving even more puzzling than he had originally thought. Her intelligence didn’t surprise him. And, though better than he expected, her fighting skills made sense. No, it was the person that was perplexing. She was tough and prickly, clearly comfortable as a thief, but then she rescued children and shared food with her ‘captor’. She was too caring and giving for her own good. No doubt that had caused her problems before, but didn’t seem to have hindered the tendency.

Somewhere in his musings, he drifted to sleep, though he couldn’t tell how long he’d slept. He was very sure he needed the rest, all things considered, but he shouldn’t have dropped his guard so much in an enemy camp. He suspected that his three companions had contributed to his feeling secure enough to do it. Cassian was convinced that any one of them would stand with him. Why exactly that was, he didn’t know. They barely knew him. He didn’t want them to know him. Yet, none of them hesitated to be there when he needed it.

He gave a silent mirthless snort. Maybe that’s what it was like having friends. Not that he would know. He’d always avoided having any. In a rebellion, the people next to you disappeared far too quickly. It was easier to avoid relationships with them than to suffer the pain of loss repeatedly.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

They were rousted to their feet and led from the building. Looking down, Cassian could determine that night had fallen, but with Jedha’s shorter days that wasn’t surprising. He could tell they were descending, which meant they were leaving the city. No doubt there was a long walk ahead. Rebels wouldn’t have a hideout in an easy to find spot.

Their captors didn’t stop often for rest. Clearly they were used to this trek. His fellow prisoners were in good shape so they didn’t appear to be having difficulty keeping up. It was hard to tell time without his eyesight, but Cassian could surmise that several hours had passed. He had lost track of Jyn’s location. The heavy tread beside him suggested it was the big man, Baze. Figuring he might know more of the planet than Cassian did, he asked softly, “We’re a half day out. A shrine?”

“Probably,” Baze rumbled. “There are many around the area. Abandoned now, they would make good hideouts.”

Eventually, the desert had ended and they reached the rocky slopes of a mountainside. That slowed their progress more. Likely the rebels could have traversed the path much more quickly, but with four prisoners unfamiliar with the terrain and blindfolded in the dark, they had no choice but to reduce their pace.

Cassian wasn’t certain, but he almost thought he could detect a faint glimmer indicating that perhaps dawn was approaching. Certainly it did not seem so dark as before. Judging by his tiredness, that would be reasonable. They entered into the echoing corridors of some sort of stone building. There were steps and it didn’t have the dampness he would expect, so it likely was a building rather than a cave. That supported the notion of it having been a shrine of some sort.

They were taken fairly deep into the place, along winding corridors, until finally their hoods were removed and they were shoved into a cell. The others were handled roughly, but Cassian more so. He had fallen when they shoved him in, but as he got up, the guard knocked him down again before stalking out the door and securing it. Best guess would be they were still upset about his shooting one of their men, and maybe getting a couple of others blown up. He couldn’t entirely blame them for that attitude.

Jyn wasn’t with them. Just him and the two guardians. He took up a position by the door and watched the activity in the hideout, checking for anything that might be useful in the event they needed to and could manage an escape. The guardians settled down, taking some rest now that they could, but Cassian was too on edge for that. Where was Jyn? What was happening to her. He hadn’t heard anything said among the rebels to indicate whether or not her identity had any weight here or not, or if they worried about her threat of angering Saw. He could only hope that Saw was pleased to see the girl. He wasn’t so sure she was going to be glad to see Saw.

She was helping them get here, yes, but it had to do with her father, not a desire to see her former mentor. Whatever the breach between them years ago, she was still angry about it. He had seen it in her eyes more than once at the mention of Saw’s name. She was good at hiding her feelings, he would grant, but he was very good at reading people. Saw was apt to get an earful from her. He hadn’t noticed she much held her tongue when she had something she wanted to say.

The question was, if Saw cooperated and Cassian was able to talk to this pilot, what then? If he needed to go kill her father, he certainly didn’t want her along, but it was unlikely she would allow herself to be left behind. She might want to confront Saw about any difficulties between them, but he was sure her ultimate goal was to find her father. She wasn’t going to let Cassian get away from her until that happened or it became evident that it wouldn’t. And he was certain she was more than equal to managing to not be left behind.

Part of him didn’t want to leave her here, but that was only because they expected him to return her to base after the mission. There wouldn’t be any other reason. Jyn Erso was nothing more to him than a means to an end. If the pilot was sent by Galen Erso as he claimed, he might only reveal his information to her. She was still necessary to make this work.

The cell had no windows, but in the open area he could see, light was filtering in from openings. It was definitely getting lighter, so dawn must be near. Likely that was when things would start to happen. One good thing, the rebels weren’t paying much attention to the prisoners now that they were in a cell. They had relieved them of any weapons they carried, and their packs that might have contained more, but they had not searched him thoroughly. Which meant, he still had a few tricks at his disposal.

“We haven’t been introduced. I’m Chirrut Imwe.”

“Captain Cassian Andor.” He knew Jyn had spoken his name aloud so there was no point in using an alias. His rank could equally apply to his position as a starship captain so that revealed nothing of importance.

“This is Baze. Baze Malbus,” Chirrut advised. Cassian glanced back and gave a tiny nod at the man, but then resumed his watchfulness.

Next thing he knew, Chirrut had taken up a chant. “I’m one with the Force, the Force is with me.” He kept droning it over and over. Cassian ignored him, but his friend wasn’t willing to let it go.

“You pray? Really?” Baze turned to Cassian. “He’s praying for the door to open.” Cassian glanced at them once more, but guardian mumbo jumbo didn’t interest him.

“It bothers him because he knows its possible.” Baze snickered at Chirrut’s remark. Cassian ignored them both as he knelt down to begin his preparations. “Baze Malbus was once the most devoted Guardian of us all.”

“I’m beginning to think the Force and I have different priorities,” Cassian replied. He extracted the lock pick he needed from the set he concealed in his boot, then returned to the cell door to await an opportunity to act.

“Relax, Captain. We’ve been in worse cages than this one.”

“This is a first for me.” Cassian idly wondered how the man knew he wasn’t relaxed. Nothing should have given him away, at least not to someone who was blind.

“There is more than one sort of prison, Captain. I sense that you carry yours wherever you go.”

He looked back at Chirrut. What the devil did he mean by that? He couldn’t know anything about Cassian. Even so, the remark left him uncomfortable. It hit too close to the truth for him to want to acknowledge it.

Baze only muttered, “Huh.” Apparently he was used to Chirrut’s proclamations.

That gave Cassian no clue to his thoughts on the subject, though. All the better if they would both just keep silent from here on. Despite all his watchfulness, however, Cassian had been unable to detect a weakness he could turn to his advantage. Time was wasting. Hopefully Jyn was doing something more worthwhile in the pursuit of their goal to find her father. His thoughts were interrupted by a question from Chirrut.

“Who's the one in the next cell?”

Cassian glanced back without interest. Unless it was Jyn, and he was sure it wasn’t, he had no interest in other prisoners to worry about.

Baze was more accommodating of his friend and went to take a look. “What? Where?” A moment later, he exclaimed, “An Imperial pilot. I’m gonna kill him!” He lunged against the bars separating their cell from the next one.

Instantly Cassian realized what was happening and rushed over. “No, no! No, wait!”

Baze was still trying to get his hands on the other man. “Come here!”

“No! Back off. Back off.” He shoved Baze away, and fortunately the man allowed it, returning to Chirrut’s side.

Cassian turned to the man in the other cell. “Okay. Are you the pilot?”

The man was in a daze, starring at his hands with a look of confusion on his face.

He tried again. “Hey, hey, are you the pilot of the…the shuttle pilot?”

“Pilot?” the man asked hazily.

Chirrut called to Cassian, “What’s wrong with him?”

Cassian waved him off. There was no time for a discussion about this just now; he needed information.

“Galen Erso. Do you know that name?”

That seemed to sink into the man’s clouded mind and get understood. “I brought the message, I'm the pilot.” Then he repeated, stronger, as if just remembering, “I'm the pilot. I'm the pilot.” He gave Cassian a pleased smile.

Not ideal, but it was a start. “Okay, good. Now where is Galen Erso?”

Just then, the earth began to shake, distracting Cassian from his interrogation. Something was happening. Rocks and debris started falling, both in their cell and in the open area of the rebel base. The rebels had noticed, too, and were visibly rattled by it. Most were on their feet, looking around uncertainly, jabbering excitedly in their different languages. As the shaking increased, their agitation moved into full scale panic. They grabbed their weapons and rushed out of the room. Cassian seized that opportunity to reach out and shortcircuit the cell door control panel. Quickly he and Baze hefted the door up out of the way. “Go, go!” Cassian yelled, racing for the pile of their belongings. He quickly found his comlink.

“K-2! K-2! Where are you?”

K’s voice crackled back. “There you are. I'm standing by as you requested, although there's a problem on the horizon. There's no horizon.”

“Locate our position. Bring that ship in here now!” He grabbed his pack and started toward the exit, as Baze was collecting the guardians’ things.

“Where are you going?” Chirrut called to him, though he had no idea how the man knew what he was doing.

“I've got to find Jyn,” he explained. He started off again, but then turned back long enough to instruct, “Get the pilot. We need him.”

“All right. I'll get the pilot.” Baze’s acknowledgement sounded more like a threat than cooperation, but he had no time to worry about that.

Cassian raced through the corridors, calling out for her. “Jyn!” This would be a whole lot easier if the rebels hadn’t kept them blindfolded when they brought them here. She could be anywhere.

He was moving so quickly, he almost passed the room where she was. He didn’t know why, but she was on her knees and weeping. Just then he became aware of Saw Gerrera advancing on them, starting to raise his staff; Cassian grabbed for his blaster, still tucked into his pack. But Saw halted, so Cassian didn’t draw the gun.

Going to Jyn, but keeping a wary eye on Saw, he said, “Hey. We've got to go.” When she just looked blankly at him, he tugged at her arm and added, “I know where your father is.”

Unexpectedly, Saw seconded his statement. “Go with him, Jyn. You must go.”

She was still hesitating, turning back toward Saw, despite Cassian’s efforts to get her moving. “Come with us.”

Saw shook his head. “I will run no longer.”

Heedless of Cassian’s increasingly frantic efforts to get her moving, she was still hesitating. Stronger shaking and the amount of falling debris left little doubt there was not much time to get out of here. “Come on!”

Finally she heeded him, allowing Cassian to pull her after him. Behind them, Saw called out, "Save the Alliance! Save the dream!" And at last she began to fully run of her own accord.

It was chaos once they managed to exit the hideout. Rebels were fleeing in every direction, trying to find a ship to escape in. Baze and Chirrut were already running for the U-wing that K was landing. As he ran past the pilot, who stood watching in abject horror the devastation rolling toward them from the city, Cassian smacked his arm. “Come on! Let's get out of here!” He and Jyn kept running, assuming the man would follow. If he didn’t, he’d be dead very soon.

Cassian didn’t watch to see if the pilot made it or not. “Get us out of here! Punch it!” he yelled, racing forward to join K in the cockpit.

“I'm not very optimistic about our odds,” the droid informed him.

“Not now, K.”

They lifted off and sped away, but it was taking too long. He shook the controls in frustration. “Come on!” Then to K, he repeated, “Punch it.”

“I haven't completed my calculations.”

“I'll make them for you,” Cassian told him, punching in some numbers and hoping they were reasonably correct. Either way, they needed to be gone, now. An instant later, they had slipped into hyperspace.

As soon as they were safely clear, he finally allowed himself to breathe again. That had been much too close for comfort. He rose. “I need to report in.”

“Understood.”

In the back of the ship, the others sat in various states of disbelieving shock at what they had just witnessed, just narrowly escaped. But he had work to do. The Alliance needed to know about this. He quickly sent his coded message, then waited to hear what his orders would be now. He was uncomfortably aware of Jyn sitting morosely on a bench. Her asking Saw to come with them suggested the two had resolved any differences between them. If that was so, she must be taking his death hard after losing her parents.

Her parents. Her mother anyway. Her father they might well find. Cassian could wish his orders would have changed with this development, but he knew Draven too well to believe it. If anything, this would make the General even more bent on seeing Galen Erso dead, convinced it would somehow help their cause. He wasn’t so sure of that. Before the weapon was confirmed, killing Erso might have prevented its completion, or at least delayed it. Clearly it was already functional – killing its maker wasn’t going to change that.

The line crackled with the reply he had expected. Orders still stand – kill Galen Erso. Tiredly, he acknowledged receipt and closed the connection, then directed K to set course for Eadu. Even if he wasn’t surprised by the reconfirmation of his orders, that didn’t mean he had to like it. What would he tell her…

Jyn’s voice cut into his thoughts. “No. We can beat the people who did this. My father's message, I've seen it. They call it the Death Star. But they have no idea…there's a way to defeat it.” She turned toward him and added, “You're wrong about my father.”

“He did build it,” Cassian replied, on the defensive.

“Because he knew they'd do it without him. My father made a choice. He sacrificed himself for the Rebellion. He's rigged a trap inside it.” She turned to the pilot. “That's why he sent you. To bring that message.”

If they had that message, then perhaps he could make a better argument to Draven and change his mind about the assassination. “Where is it? Where's the message?” Cassian asked, unable to completely conceal his excitement at the prospect.

He knew from the look on her face that she wasn’t going to give him an answer that would help. “It was a hologram.”

He persisted in one last effort, grabbing at one last straw. “You have that message, right?”

“Everything happened so fast…” she stammered.

Maybe the pilot, was it Bodhi? “Did you see it?”

But, again, no luck. The man regretfully shook his head.

“You don't believe me,” Jyn challenged.

She had no idea how much he wanted to believe her, but he wasn’t the one giving orders. “I'm not the one you've got to convince.”

Chirrut offered, “I believe her.”

As though that mattered in the slightest. “That's good to know.”

Baze took a different tack, wanting specifics to clarify the matter. “What kind of trap? You said your father made a trap.”

“The reactor. He's placed a weakness there. He's been hiding it for years. He said if you can blow the reactor - the module - the whole system goes down.” She looked back at Cassian. “You need to send word to the Alliance.”

“I've done that.” He couldn’t give her false hope, and that’s what this was. Nothing he could send in a message was likely to change Draven’s mind.

“They have to know there's a way to destroy this thing. They have to go to Scarif to get the plans.”

If only it were that simple. “I can't risk sending that. We're in the heart of Imperial territory.” That much was true. Messages could only be encoded so well.

“Then we’ll find him, and bring him back. And he can tell them himself.”

He wanted to yell at her to wake up, to see the world as it truly was. She wasn’t some naïve child – she knew life wasn’t all sweetness and light. No matter how much she loved and believed in her father, there was no simple fix to this mess. That weapon was out there. It had already destroyed an entire city and a large area around it. It had been called a planet-killer, and based on what he saw, he believed that name was apt. It was too late for Galen Erso to make things right, and just like Draven, Cassian knew nothing Erso could tell the Senate was going to save a single life.

He looked at the others; they rarely had this many onboard. “It will take over an hour to get there. Rest while you can.” He looked over to where the pilot was sitting. “Bodhi, in that compartment on your right. You’ll find ration bars and waterskins.” The man nodded and bent to the task.

Seeing to his passengers was done automatically; he didn’t even have to think much about it. But when it was taken care of, he felt like they were all still watching him. What did they hope to see? Did they think to make him feel guilty so he would go along with anything Jyn said? It seemed like the three of them had rallied behind her, placing them in opposition to him. Couldn’t they see he had no choice? He was a soldier. A soldier who followed orders. One last glance over them confirmed nothing remained to do and he returned to the pilot’s seat, preferring to exit the charged atmosphere.

K looked up as he entered the cockpit. “Course is set. If you don’t need me further, I’ll power down and recharge while we travel. My power cells are uncomfortably low.”

“Sure, go ahead.”

The droid shuffled to the back, secured himself and plugged in, then went dark. Cassian already missed his company, if for no other reason than the droid was the only one on this ship who supported Cassian’s actions. Why was this so hard? He had followed orders like this many times before; he understood what his job was. And if some of the things he was called upon to do came back to haunt him at nights, he figured he deserved that. It was for a good cause, a cause he believed in and had for the majority of his life. Nothing should be different this time. If anything, his skills were even more essential. If they couldn’t completely destroy the Empire, they could at least remove some of their best men, the masterminds behind their evil. It might not stop them entirely, but it slowed them down. How many people hadn’t died because Cassian had taken one life? It was an ugly business, he knew, but necessary. Those who didn’t understand what they were up against had no business judging his actions.

He rubbed a weary hand over his face. He needed sleep, desperately. But he wasn’t likely to get it any time soon, not with this on his mind. The best he could hope for was to relax enough to rest his body. He took a drink from the waterskin, wishing he carried something stronger on the ship. Probably not a good idea though. As tired as he was, strong drink would only impair him.

A noise behind him made him tense. Jyn was hovering uncertainly in the doorway. She glanced toward the co-pilot seat and asked, “Okay if I join you?”

Most likely a bad idea, but he nodded anyway. “Sure.”

Her gaze wandered idly over the control panel, but he could tell from her expression that she really didn’t know what she was looking at. It was maybe a safe subject, though. “Do you fly?”

She shook her head. “Probably should have learned by now. It would have made things easier, I guess. Still, I always managed to find a ride in the direction I wanted to go.”

“It was one of the first things I learned to do, as soon as I could find someone to teach me. I loved everything tech – droids, spaceships, anything.” Why had he said that? He didn’t usually reveal anything that personal of himself. Oh well, probably harmless information. But he would need to be more careful.

“Did you reprogram K-2?”

He nodded. “I was on a mission and he was…trying to kill us. I managed to turn off his power and then reprogram him. It’s come in handy having a KX unit around.”

“And a friend?”

He glanced at her, then tried to shrug nonchalantly. “I suppose.” He didn’t need her to understand so much about him. He didn’t need her to know anything about him. This was a mission. Nothing else.

“My father tried to give me little experiments to do, to get me interested in science, but I always wanted to be outdoors, moving. I was more like my mother in that regard. She didn’t like being cooped up either.”

“She gave you that necklace? The kyber crystal?”

Jyn nodded. “My father had long been studying them and their properties. Saw told me later that Krennic latched on to that potential and twisted it to his own uses. Father was a brilliant scientist, but I think he trusted people too much. Had it not been for my mother, I don’t know how long it would have taken for him to realize what Krennic was up to. In the end, I guess it didn’t matter. Krennic found us again on Lah’mu. He killed my mother and took my father.”

“He left you there?”

“Not intentionally. My parents had planned for the possibility he would find us. There was a place for me to hide. Right before Krennic got there, my mother notified Saw and sent me to hide. Krennic had his troopers search for me, but I was too well concealed. Then Saw came and got me and…raised me.” She gave him a sardonic smile. “Isn’t all that in your file on me?”

“No, not all of it. We knew your mother was killed on Lah’mu, but the details weren’t clear about the circumstances, or what had become of you. The rumors placed you with Saw, but no one knew for certain how it came about. Contrary to what you think, the Alliance doesn’t know everything.”

“I _never_ thought that.”

Which meant they were back to her father, even if she didn’t mention him by name. He had _sacrificed himself for the Rebellion?_ Yet he built that weapon? It was hard to reconcile those two acts. Building a flaw into it that could be exploited was good, but never having built it was better.

As though she read his thoughts, Jyn told him, “He didn’t have a choice. They would have built it without him. At least with his working on it, playing the good little Imperial, he was able to sabotage it. If they had built it without him, that wouldn’t be so, and the Alliance would be faced with an invincible killing machine. He couldn’t prevent it, so he did what little he could do.”

It did make sense, too much sense, what she was saying. Dying a martyr might only have delayed it a few months or years, but the Empire would have found a way to complete their prize. Galen Erso’s death wouldn’t hinder them too much. And, yet, here he was on his way to do just that – kill the man who had given them some tiny chance.

“You should try to rest,” he told her, hoping to end the conversation. Nothing she had said changed anything. He had orders.

She gazed at him for a moment, then nodded, and headed into the back of the ship. He closed his eyes, wishing they had never had that talk, wishing he could simply forget everything she had said. It would make it easier.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Cassian did sleep, fitfully, but unsettling dreams of past missions kept bringing him awake. He wasn’t sure it could be counted as rest. He finally gave up, figuring it was better to just stay awake. It had gone silent in the back, and a quick look found them all sprawled on the deck, though he couldn’t tell if any of them slept.

He glanced at the chronometer just as it began to sound their nearing Eadu. At the same time, K-2’s visual sensors flickered back on, and once he was fully powered he disengaged himself from the charger and came to join Cassian. “Did I miss anything?” the droid asked, and Cassian almost smiled. As aggravating as K could be at times, his sarcastic humor was pleasantly familiar.

“Not really, other than the chance to fuss at me for not sleeping.”

The droid glanced at him, as his hands moved over the controls, bringing them into orbit. “I’m sure I’ll have another opportunity for that.”

Cassian grinned. “I’d better wake the others.”

It didn’t take much. As soon as his feet hit the deck, more than one set of eyes blinked open to look at him. Jyn slept well separate from the others, but instead of stretching out in the available floor space, she was curled into a tight ball on a blanket. Apparently she had ‘found’ those, too. Her posture reminded him of those creatures that curled up like that to protect a soft underside by presenting a prickly or hard shell as defense when attacked. Did she know she did that? Was it intentional?

“Are we there?” Jyn asked for the group.

He nodded. “Coming into orbit now. Bodhi, you want to come up and guide us?”

The pilot rolled off the bench he’d stretched out on, and stood.

“Wake those two,” Cassian said, indicating the guardians.

“We’re awake,” Baze responded, though he didn’t move or open his eyes. Chirrut only gave a small smile.

Cassian used the time descending into atmosphere to plan out how to proceed. He’d need Bodhi to guide him, but it was best to leave the others on the ship. It turned out they had arrived in the middle of a storm. That would be in his favor; an added reason why no one else should venture out.

Unfortunately, between the storm and the treacherous path they needed to fly, the situation deteriorated quickly. “Hold on tight! We're coming down hard!”

He barely had time to warn the passengers after they clipped a rock. The jolt knocked Bodhi over from where he was crouched behind them. K wrestled the controls, but he could only do so much to ease their impact. The entire instrument panel was dead and that did not bode well for what he would find outside when he surveyed the damage.

“Everyone stay put while I see how bad it is.”

His heart sank at what he found. No way they could repair this, meaning they needed another way out of here once he was finished. He re-entered the ship to find K and Bodhi working on the comm system.

“Bodhi, where's the lab?” Cassian pulled off his wet vest as he spoke, and drew on his warmer parka.

“The research facility?”

“Yeah. Where is it?”

“It's just over that ridge.”

“That's a shuttle depot straight ahead of us? You are sure of that?”

“Yes!”

“We'll have to hope there's still an Imperial ship left to steal.” While he gave instructions, he set to switching his gun into its rifle form.

“Here's what we're doing. Hopefully, the storm keeps up and keeps us hidden down here. Bodhi, you're coming with me.” He shoved some rain gear in the man’s arms. “We'll go up the ridge and check it out.”

“I'm coming with you,” Jyn said, moving to get rain gear from the spot she’d seen him pull it for Bodhi.

No, no, no. He couldn’t do this with her along. “No, your father's message. We can't risk it. You're the messenger.” As excuses went, that was one of the weakest he had ever come up with, but he had too much to deal with now to worry about finesse.

“That's ridiculous. We all got the message. Everyone here knows it,” Jyn protested.

Tough enough to argue her point, but K just had to choose that moment to display his droid memory capacity. “ ‘One blast to the reactor module and the whole system goes down.’ That's how you said it. ‘The whole system goes down.’ ”

He was ready to tear out his hair. He needed them to follow his instructions, not argue with him, and that included K. To the droid, he barked, “Get to work fixing our comms!” Turning to the rest of them, he reiterated, “All I want to do right now is get a handle on what we're up against. So, we're gonna go very small and very careful up the rise and see what's what. Let's get out of here.”

At least his apparent irritation had quelled the arguments, and no one followed the two of them. Now if Cassian could just find Erso and take his shot, they could try to get out of here before they were discovered.

The canyons were as treacherous on foot as they had been for flying. The rain only made them that much more dangerous. He had thought the walk to the first view of the research facility was fairly easy, until Bodhi stopped him. “No, no, no... We’ve got to go up. You can't see much from down here.”

Climbing along narrow trails in the dark in the rain – this mission just kept getting better and better. When finally they reached what Bodhi deemed a good vantage point, it had taken far too much time. The longer they were here, the greater the chance they would be discovered. He’d just have to hurry and get this over with. He checked the platform through the macrobinoculars, wondering why there was so much activity at this hour and in the rain. That only made him more uneasy. The only advantage to it was that a group of men, who were clearly not soldiers, had exited the building and seemed to be waiting for something or someone. If his luck had improved, maybe Erso would be one of them.

He handed the macrobinoculars to Bodhi. “You see Erso out there?” While Bodhi looked, he took the opportunity to check that his gun was ready to go.

It took several minutes before Bodhi returned the macrobinoculars to him. “That's him. That's him, Galen, in the dark suit.”

Cassian took another look to confirm his target, but then was distracted by an incoming ship. He ducked down, shoving Bodhi down as well, as the ship flew over them and landed on the platform. He had a feeling things were about to get even more complicated.

“Get back down there, and find us a ride outta here.”

Bodhi started to do as instructed, but then realized he wasn’t coming. His eyes fixed on the gun in Cassian’s hands. “Well, what are you going to do?”

Cassian remembered him calling the man ‘Galen’. He considered him a friend. Which meant he couldn’t stay while Cassian did his job. “You heard me.”

“You said we came up here just to have a look,” Bodhi protested.

“I'm here, I'm looking. Now go.” It took a moment, but finally the pilot did as instructed and scurried away. Cassian took up a sniper position and readied himself.

Someone exited the shuttle that had landed. From the look of him and the death trooper guard flanking him, it must be someone important. He was almost tempted to add a second target, but with the crash landing it was probably best to do this and get out of here fast. If the man was someone important, his death would mean a greater effort made to catch the person responsible.

It was difficult to get a good fix on Erso. Between the rain getting in his eyes and the movement of people on the platform, he stepped in and out of clear shots. At this distance, he couldn’t even hazard a guess as to the conversation, but he could read a situation. The death troopers took up a position on either side of the man in the white cape, facing the engineers who had been with Erso. Something was definitely about to happen down there. The troopers shouldered their weapons, presumably at a command that was given, but then suddenly Erso bolted in front of the guns, trying to shield the men he worked with.

Startled for a moment, Cassian hesitated, then redrew a bead on the man now that his position had altered. His finger was on the trigger. He knew what he must do. But Jyn’s face swam before him. _You’re wrong about my father. He sacrificed himself for the Rebellion._ Cassian and many others had also sacrificed for the Rebellion. There was no room in his line of work for sympathy. Erso had to die… Just…just not by his hand.

He laid the gun down, finally acknowledging that he couldn’t be the one to do this. Maybe it was a mistake to let the man live, and it was doubtful there was any way to get him away from the Empire, but he couldn’t face Jyn if he followed this order. She’d know what he’d been sent to do. She was no fool, and Bodhi was sure to tell her what had happened. She was going to despise him whether he took the shot or not, but somehow he knew this was one kill he couldn’t have on his conscience. This was one kill he would never manage to recover from.

Erso was in motion again, moving back toward the man in white. An instant later, the troopers opened fire and mowed down all of the engineers except for Erso. Abruptly, the man in white had backhanded him, driving Erso to his knees. Quickly Cassian grabbed the macrobinoculars to try to determine what was happening. It was pretty evident that Erso was in disfavor with his Imperial bosses. Did they know of his connection to the missing pilot, then? Was that the reason for this untimely visit? The man in white crouched down, and Cassian could guess that he was taunting Erso. The Imperial leaders were famous for their egos and their bullying ways. This man would want to lord it over Erso that he had been discovered as a traitor.

A movement to the right edge of his view drew Cassian’s gaze there. Jyn? What was she doing on that platform? She was crouching behind some containers, but what did she think she could do to help her father? A squad of death troopers and numerous stormtroopers from the facility itself littered the area. She’d be dead before she even got within five feet of Erso.

Just then Cassian’s comlink crackled to life. “Cassian. Cassian, can you hear me?”

K. He must have the comm system functional. At least one bright spot of news. “I'm here. You’ve got it working.”

“Affirmative, yes, although we have a problem! There's an Alliance squadron approaching. Clear the area!”

Cassian’s heart slammed into his ribcage. “No. No, no, no! Tell them to hold up! Jyn's on that platform!”

A moment later, alarms began to sound from the facility – the rebel squadron had been spotted. In that moment, Cassian chose. “Jyn. No.” Orders be damned, he couldn’t let this happen. He knew very well those fighters weren’t here to rescue him – they were here to finish his job. With communication lost, Draven would have assumed he’d failed and acted on a contingency plan. They knew Erso’s location, so bomb it and hope they killed Erso along with many other Imperials.

It wasn’t a conscious choice, per se, but the instant he stood, he knew his feet were going to carry him toward the platform, not away. Not until he had Jyn, anyway. Her father, too, if it was possible, but he couldn’t leave her there and simply fly away. He was still too far away, trying to reach a crossing he saw along the side of the mountain, when one of the Alliance bombs exploded. He stopped long enough to see Jyn, Erso and the man in white all knocked off their feet. He ran all the faster. Maybe she was dead, but he had to know that for sure.

The squadron attack had drawn out their TIE fighters, though it was too late to prevent the several bombs that had already struck the facility. As Cassian reached the crossing to the platform, he saw the death troopers pull their leader to his feet and toward the shuttle. The man paused only long enough to be convinced that Erso was dead, and then fled for his own safety.

As the tide started to turn against the squadron, they pulled out and headed back for space, still doing battle with TIEs. To his relief, Jyn was up and moving, had made it over to her father. Even from here, he doubted the man would make it, if he was even still alive now. The explosion had gone off nearest to him.

Finally Cassian reached her, but he could tell by her stricken face that Erso was dead. “Jyn, we've got to go. Come on.”

She was in shock, tears blinding her to the danger and heedless to his words or his hand on her arm. It took several moments, too long, to finally get her moving. A group of stormtroopers came flooding out of the facility, but they were mowed down by a repeating laser cannon. Baze. Had to be, and he was grateful once again for the guardians they had picked up. He drew Jyn with him to the crossing walkway, pausing to take down two more troopers who had appeared.

They raced back in the direction of their wrecked ship, and he spotted Baze and Chirrut also rushing to return. Just then a shuttle rose in the air and its lasers took out their immediate pursuers. Jyn and Cassian dove in the shuttle’s open door. As soon as Baze and Chirrut were in, Bodhi yelled to the droid, “Okay, K-2, let's go.”

The adrenaline was still pumping through him; it would take a while for it to fade. He got out of his soaked rain gear and stored his weapon away. No one else spoke, but the tension was as heavy as his soaked jacket. He knew all of them had figured out what his mission had been, and held him accountable. Who were they to judge? What did they contribute to freeing the galaxy. Taking down a few stormtroopers on occasion didn’t count for much in the overall scheme of things. He put his life on the line almost daily trying to free the galaxy from the Empire’s evil grip.

Then she was there. He had expected this. He steeled himself for what he knew was coming. Drop another cool, impassive mask in place.

“You lied to me.”

He diverted her first salvo. “You're in shock.”

“You went up there to kill my father.”

Deflect. “You don't know what you're talking about.”

“Deny it.”

Don’t answer directly. “You're in shock, and looking for some place to put it. I've seen it before.”

But Jyn Erso wasn’t some witless Imperial, and she wasn’t going to be put off. “I bet you have.” She gestured behind her to the others. “They know. You lied about why we came here and you lied about why you went up alone.”

Okay. There was no getting out of this discussion. “I had every chance to pull the trigger. But did I?” The others were watching and listening, so he posed the same question to them. “Did I?” If they wanted to be angry, it should be for something he actually did, not something he had failed to do.

“You might as well have. My father was living proof and you put him at risk. Those were Alliance bombs that killed him.” 

Had there been another way, another scenario where Erso didn’t die and Jyn was reunited with her father? He very much doubted it. She held herself apart from the Rebellion and did nothing to try to improve the situation. He followed orders and did something worthwhile. “I had orders. Orders that I disobeyed. But you wouldn't understand that.” It was easy for non-soldiers to judge soldiers. They couldn’t be counted on to step up and help, to lay their lives on the line. To do what needed to be done.

“Orders? When you know they're wrong? You might as well be a stormtrooper.” She turned away, disdain dripping off her. While part of him could sympathize – she was hurting from just having watched her father die – the accusation still stung. Did she think she was the only one to ever suffer?

More angrily than he intended, he fought back. “What do you know? We don't all have the luxury of deciding when and where we want to care about something. Suddenly the Rebellion is real for you. Some of us live it. I 've been in this fight since I was six years old. You're not the only one who lost everything. Some of us just decided to do something about it.”

She merely looked at him, unswayed, believing he only rationalized. “You can't talk your way around this.”

That was too much. Time to end this discussion. She didn’t know him, who he was or where he came from. She didn’t know anything. “I don't have to,” he replied defiantly, brushing past her and giving Bodhi instructions on their destination. Still feeling everyone’s eyes on him, he swung around sharply. “Anybody else?” he challenged. No one took up the offer, so he climbed the ladder to the cockpit, eager to put distance between himself and the others.

The trip between Eadu and Yavin wasn’t long, but it was made in silence by everyone. Even K stayed uncharacteristically quiet other than remarks on their flight progress.

_You might as well be a stormtrooper._ He had been called many names by many people over the course of his life, and he had long since learned to let them roll off, paying no heed. But her words kept replaying through his thoughts.

_When you know they’re wrong?_ As much as he wanted to say she didn’t know what she was talking about, he knew her words had merit. Yes, he’d had orders, but they were given two days ago when little was known about the situation. A great deal had happened since then, things he couldn’t put in a message – even a coded one – to Draven. When the General reiterated Erso be killed, he didn’t know what Cassian knew. 

Draven hadn’t ordered Cassian to shoot two stormtroopers and kill Tivik when confronted on Kafrene. It had been up to Cassian to make a judgement call based on the situation he faced. When he had reported back, Draven had simply asked if there had been any other way, and accepted his answer when he said no. This shouldn’t have been any different. It was fine to follow the orders he was originally given initially, but when he learned more, when he knew that Erso had provided a way to destroy the weapon, he should have made his own decision about how to act. Draven might not have liked it or agreed, but he would have recognized Cassian’s intent to be sound. He was hardnosed, but not completely unreasonable.

He rubbed his face. He needed sleep. Real, actual, restful sleep. But he could guess how this was going to play out. Jyn hadn’t mentioned it, but when they reported back to Mothma and Draven, the Council would be summoned and the matter discussed. Going to Scarif for the plans meant either a suicide mission for a small group, unsupported by the majority of the Rebellion, or a full out act of war on the Empire. Up until now, the skirmishes had been relatively minor and most of what they did undermined the Empire without really making a definitive strike against it. If they moved on this, as a full Rebellion, there would be no turning back. They would be at all out war.

And, while Cassian had been working in that direction his entire life, trying to build the Rebellion to a point where such a war was feasible, he knew that the bureaucratic Council would never risk it. Some would recognize the need to act, and act now, but many would not. And that difference of opinion would stall the entire thing.

He was drawn from his thoughts by K-2 responding to the Rebel base with landing clearance codes. After they were given permission to land, he looked over at the droid. It had been his decision to reprogram the KX unit and bring it back with him. He could have merely disabled or destroyed it onsite, but he hadn’t. Over the years Cassian had yielded up more and more of the decisions to others, but he hadn’t lost that ability to decide on what he deemed the best and right course of action.

Quietly, he instructed, “K, when we land I’ll need to go report in. Start preparing a list for me of our assets – saboteurs, assassins, spies. Only the ones currently on base. Have it ready for me when I get back to my quarters. And, K, this is private. Keep it off the record.”

The droid’s head turned to look at him for a long moment, but he merely replied, “Understood.”

As they maneuvered the ship to their landing spot, K spoke again. “You’re going to do something foolish, aren’t you? Because of her.”

“Not because of her, K. Because it’s the right thing to do.”

They settled on the ground and K began shutdown procedures, but couldn’t resist having the last word. “But mostly it’s because of her.”

Cassian had risen from his chair, but hesitated. After all these years together, K knew him well. He was right. This probably did have to do with Jyn Erso, but also it was time to make up for all the evils in his past.

He dropped a hand briefly on the droid’s shoulder and smiled, then silently departed.

The End  
1/10/18 – 1/29/18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End Note: In case you were wondering, yes, I do go overboard on the research and the calculations and all that just to write a story. Had to keep changing this when I’d rewatch the movie and notice something else that affected the numbers. The below isn’t perfect, but it’s about as close as I could come trying to make everything sync with what we saw on the screen. If anyone needs to, feel free to use my numbers/calculations:
> 
> I’m not totally satisfied with this, but it will have to do:
> 
> FYI, the ‘days’ things are happening are merely used as a convenient reference in timing things out, and figuring out when things happened on any given day.
> 
> **1) Monday** : Bodhi defects  
>  **2) Tuesday** : Tivik tells Cassian about defector
> 
> **3) Wednesday: Jyn rescued from Wobani (DAY); delay but eventually taken to Yavin**  
>  if trip to Jedha is going to take 1 day, they may not have eaten or slept, figuring to do that on the flight; [maybe get her on Wobani early morning, make it back to Yavin by late afternoon, immediate interrogation,  
> eat, rest, supply them for trip and depart Thurs am (maybe 7 am)]  
> [distance between Wobani & Yavin unknown]
> 
> **4) arr Jedha Thur abt 9 am Y time/1 pm J time** [2 hr flight - fighter]; walk to city (3-4 hr walk) & arrive abt 4:30 pm J time  
> [if walk took 4 hrs, K-2 would have had to follow them shortly after they left to arrive when he did]  
> if assume takes twice as long to get to Jedha from Yavin as to get to Scarif from Yavin, then Y to J = 2 hr;  
> captured in late afternoon/early evening J time (6-6:30 pm) on Thurs, maybe holed up in Jedha waiting for things to settle down and cover of darkness to head for hideout – depart city abt 8:30-9 pm J time, 
> 
> **5) reach Saw’s hideout very early Fri am** (6 hr trip arr abt 4:30 am or so) [that would mean trip took abt hr]  
> Friday – in Saw’s hideout only abt 30 min before DS strikes & they escape (abt 5 am J time);  
> go straight to Eadu ; [distance from Jedha to Eadu unknown, but less than time it took to reach Jedha from Yavin,  
> so maybe 1 hr 30 m][arr E abt 6:30 am J time = 5:25 am Y time, so still dark (very early am + storm)]  
> maybe arr Eadu very early Fri am (maybe 5:25 am Fri Y time) – only there abt 1 hr tops (dep abt 6:15-6:20 am Y time);  
> return to Yavin – short distance (abt 30 m, but shuttle takes longer so 1 hr) (arr Yavin abt 7:30 am Fri)
> 
> **6) maybe takes til late Sat for other Council Members to arrive for meeting (held Sun am, maybe 9 am)** ; 
> 
> **7) Rogue One departs right after Sun am meeting for Scarif (lv 10:30 am); arr Scarif 12:30 pm Sun**  
>  shuttle takes 2 hr for trip; fleet takes 1 hr ????  
> fleet comes to help – dep Y abt 1:00 pm, arr S abt 2:00 pm
> 
> If Jedha has a 20 hour day, an “hour” would be shorter (abt 50 mins)  
> .83 factor; 50 min hrs
> 
> [couldn't figure out how to do tabs to keep table spacing, but below are 4 columns: Jed, no heading, Yav, Jed/Yav]  
>  **Jed --- Yav Jed/Yav**  
>  1 am 50 m 0:50 am dark  
> 2 am 100m = 1h40m 1:40 dark  
> 3 am 150m = 2h30m 2:30 dark  
> 4 am 200m = 3h20m 3:20 dark  
> 5 am 250m = 4h10m 4:10 light/dark  
> 6 am 300m = 5h 5:00 light/dark  
> 7 am 350m = 5h50m 5:50 am light/dark  
> 8 am 400m = 6h40m 6:40 light/light  
> 9 am 450m = 7h30m 7:30 light/light  
> 10 noon 500m = 8h20m 8:20 light/light  
> 1 pm 550m = 9h10m 9:10 light/light  
> 2 pm 600m = 10h 10:00 light/light  
> 3 pm 650m = 10h50m 10:50 light/light  
> 4 pm 700m = 11h40m 11:40am light/light  
> 5 pm 750m = 12h30m 12:30 pm light/light  
> 6 pm 800m = 13h20m 1:20 pm light/light  
> 7 pm 850m = 14h10m 2:10 dark  
> 8 pm 900m = 15h 3 dark  
> 9 pm 950m = 15h50m 3:50 dark  
> 10 midnight 1000m = 16h40 4:40 dark


End file.
